Legendary coach John Buchanan calls out Darren Lehmann

One of Australia’s most successful cricket coaches of all time, John Buchanan, has weighed in on the ball tampering scandal, saying it would be “unusual” for Darren Lehmann not to have known what his senior players were up to before the plan was carried out.

Buchanan, who was in charge of the Aussie Test side when they recorded a world-record 16 consecutive Test victories in a row, also told the BBC that Steve Smith’s time as the team’s skipper had to come to an end.

But it’s Lehmann’s role in the unfolding ball-tampering scandal that is now coming under the most intense scrutiny, with Smith having said “the coaches weren’t involved”.

However, Buchanan questioned how Lehmann could have been ignorant of what was unfolding.

"It is unusual as the teams are walking out that the coach is unaware of what's about to happen," Buchanan said.

"Generally it will be the coach and captain, in the last couple of minutes before they go to the field, who will be saying 'these are the sort of things we want to do and put in place when we get out on the field'."

Regarding the current captain’s place, the man who served as coach while Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting were skipper said Smith’s position was untenable.

"Personally I don't think Steve Smith can continue as captain. It may be his first major error but it is such an enormous error of judgement,” Buchanan said.